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Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, in the BBC Studios

So this past Saturday, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals appeared on BBC Radio 2’s Dermot O’Leary show… and man, what a treat we were in for.

It was a short and sweet slot, with only 2 interview segments, and two songs, but those two songs were pure magic. The first was the always-stunning “Fix It” (by the way, if you haven’t seen their performance of this song on Letterman, then head here. Seriously, you need to watch it)… and then straight out of left-field comes a cover of Foo Fighters “Times Like These”. I’m loving the way they perform the song, and it’s actually reminiscent of a way I used to play it at various open mic nights, which probably lends itself to a greater connection with me.

Anyway, I’ve included the entire show including interview segments below, but at the very least, listen to “Fix It” and “Times Like These”. Sheer beauty.

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Live on Radio 2

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Chat I
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Fix It
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Chat II
Ryan Adams & The Cardinal – Times Like These

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2008 releases artists guitar live songs music music videos

Ryan Adams, Cardinology Coffee Shop Show…

Wow, look at all those alliterations in that title.
Anyway, straight to the business at hand. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals recently celebrated the release of their “Cardinology” album with a eight-song acoustic performance at Café Select in New York’s Soho. For those who were there, in such an intimate setting, it must have been an amazing experience. Needless to say, I was jealous.

So, thank god that Ryan & The Cardinals have today premiered the pro-shot footage of the performane at coffee.cardinology.com… and I’ve embedded the show below.

All in all, it’s everything that I would imagine an intimate night with the Cards in like… fun, touching, and magical. I won’t bore you too much with words… just watch the show below.

Set-list of the performance:

‘Born Into A Light’
‘Evergreen’
‘Fix It’
‘Magick’ (side note… this performance is the first time I’ve actually enjoyed this song)
‘Natural Ghost’

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Stream Ryan Adams & The Cardinals “Cardinology”

Stream Ryan Adams & The Cardinals Cardinology

Short note… but Cardinals fans can now stream the entire “Cardinology” album here. All in all, I’m actually loving it, although some reviews haven’t been as positive.

Give it a listen and make up your own mind.

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2008 releases artists digital downloads guitar live songs music rock gods

New Ryan Adams tunes… Sinking Ships, The Colour of Pain, Cobwebs & Fix It.

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals on tour… standing on the shoulders of giants.

You know, by all accounts, it’s been a different Ryan Adams that has posted on Foggy lately. Having been on tour with Oasis for the last while, it seems like Ryan’s… well… maturing. And healthier than he’s been in a while.
And I don’t mean that at all in a condescending way; I mean it in the most awe-inspiring, respectful way. But it’s true… and from the tunes I’ve been hearing, this time with Oasis has only done good for Ryan and the Cards; in all honesty, some of the recordings I’ve heard of this tour are some of the best stuff I’ve heard from the Cardinals in ages.

Which brings me to the main point of this post… I’ve been scanning archive.org regularly for new material that’s been posted from the show, and I came across this set from only three days ago, when Ryan Adams and the Cardinals performed at the Bank of America Pavilion. And man, some of the new songs you hear there are, quite simply, awesome, and bode well for the Cardinal’s next release. Here’s a sample of those new tunes… the outstanding “Cobwebs” (which most of us would have already been exposed to by a post on Foggy), “Fix It” (god, how about that refrain?), and then the brand-new (to me, at least), tunes of “Sinking Ship” and “The Colour of Pain“.
All in all, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals are still titans, ladies and gentlemen. An island, a solid place to stand, in a swirling mass of uncertainty. And here’s some evidence of why they remain my favourite band. Here’s to more of this boys.

Listen. Love. Support.

Listen: Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Cobwebs
Listen: Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Fix It
Listen: Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Sinking Ship
Listen: Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – The Colour of Pain

And, thanks to the always spiffy archive.org, I’m now able to embed the entire playlist on this blog, below. Listen to the whole set, and if you’d like to download the whole thing, head here.

Seriously. It’s like the first time I heard Ryan Adams all over again, and I’m loving it.

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2007 Releases artists digital downloads guitar Live Music Friday live songs music rock gods

Live Music Friday – Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, live on NPR’s World Cafe

Just so that everyone knows, my iPod has officially given up the ghost, completely and utterly without warning. With most of my music on there, this is severely going to impact posting, and – quite frankly, more importantly – completely bums me out. Anyone want to start a “donate to help Matthew buy another iPod as he’s already in mountains of debt” fund? Oh wait, I already did… a shameless cry for help, yes, I know, but a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do…



Help a brother out, and keep the tunes flowing, would you? Click the donate button to help sponsor through Paypal. Every cent helps…


Anyway. Welcome back to another Live Music Friday. For today’s post, I thought I’d fall back on the always sublime Ryan Adams and the Cardinals.

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals Live

Last year, in 2007, I was finally lucky enough to see Ryan Adams & The Cardinals perform live at The Tivoli, in Brisbane… and it was everything I had hoped it would be. The band are unbelievably tight, and despite Ryan’s well-known cantakerous exterior, he really does have this magical ability to pull you right into the song, taking you along to ride the melody and lyrics beside him.

This set is also from 2007, from a performance on the always wonderful NPR’s World Cafe (which also gave us the wonderful Counting Crows performance featured here).

The show finds Ryan at his sardonic best, with sarcastic observations peppered between the songs.
If nothing else, make sure that you listen to the tracks “I Taught Myself To Grow Old”, with Ryan’s voice soaring at it’s heart-breaking best, and a lovely slower version of the normally manic “Let It Ride”. While it’s a short set-list, and lacks for the regular “Magnolia Mountain” and “Wildflowers”, it’s a powerful set nonetheless. And don’t worry… I have a much longer Ryan Adams show that I’m sure I’ll post in the future, with a 10 minute version of “Magnolia Mountain”, so no fear there.
Something about this show, however, just connects with me. It’s a Ryan Adams quality – and a very distinctive one at that – that when I hear him live, it hits me like a shovel to the chest. It’s a very personal connection, and one that no other artist has managed to come close to, for me at least (save for Alex Dezen of The Damnwells, who is nipping at Ryan’s heels for my adulation).

I suppose that that was really a long-winded way of saying: “Ryan’s music makes my world a better place. It describes that bit that is simply out of the reach of words“. And while that’s a terribly trite comment to read on a music blog, it’s true nonetheless.

I hope it does the same for you.

Ryan Adams and The Cardinals, Live on World Cafe, 15 June 2007

1.) Introduction
2.) Two
3.) I Taught Myself To Grow Old
4.) Winding Wheel
5.) I See Monsters
6.) Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard
7.) Oh My God, Whatever, Etc.
8.) Nightbirds
9.) Let It Ride
10.) Blue Hotel

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artists Inspirational thoughts

Ryan Adams won’t give up on people…

Read this. Now.

‘Nuff said.

****

Edit: Well, I see that Ryan has since deleted that post, for whatever reason. So it’s a good thing that – knowing his fickle blogging ways, and his tendency to delete things I reference – that I made a record of it. So read on, for your pleasure below, Ryan’s now-deleted post…

“Never Give Up On People You Love If You Can. Never. And Never Give Up On Yourself If You Can.
That Is The Punkest Shit You Can Do. To Never NEVER Give Up.”

I know that sounds so serious and crazy and weird but I just wanted to say that to you tonight Foggy.

It is a scary weird world, and it get’s so dark sometimes that it seems like it’s safer being unhappy, but you know, when you are happy, when shit is working, sometimes that just means exactly that. Don’t be afraid.

And if you get weirded out because someone or something is making you happy, and that doesn’t seem to you like you are working hard enough for it then, because you spent a life judging happiness by how Little something hurt, instead of How MUCH something made you happy and made you feel whole, just STOP. just stop and think about this, because someone told me this and I just have to say this Foggy.

There is a light and There is a Darkness. And there is a choice.

And every Something in the little universe of yours, of ours, every single something, that is a light. That is another day and a new exchange waiting to happen and a new laugh and a new page and a new chapter.

And even though you may have spent a lot of time very sad, very afraid, There is a Darkness, and it is quiet there and not many if any people are in that darkness, and there might be more days there Foggy, there might be more choices, little choices you can make in the dark, but that is a darkness Foggy. And a darkness can get so dark that it can take you away from the light forever. You might just be squinting sometimes, thinking you are holding on to it but you are moving towards it or away.

SO Foggy, I really really love you and I want to tell you something very important. I am going to go away from that darkness now. Because in that light, I was very afraid, because I was not used to all that growing and all those things happening where you could see, and all the things in me I could see I never saw before, that scared me and I ran from that, I needed to think. I needed to sit on the moon for a second and look at the world and think.

But we have to move Foggy. We have to go now towards where all that love and that light was coming from. Because that is another day.

And we are getting older now Foggy and it is time to start sharing some of the things we learned. Some of those things are things people do not survive or do not walk away from still being able to see what is bright and what is not.

So we have to go now and become a good example and a good friend and good teacher to other people in case they too got lost too in all the quiet darkness.

It is part of the promise we made. To never give up! So we are not going to give up on ourselves or others, and not going to be judging from the dark places, but instead, we are going to listen. and we are not going to judge but instead see. (well maybe we might judge alittle harshly sometimes when we write but that is the style of writing, that font, is call Assholevetica and we helped make that so you know, sometimes it will be a bit saucy,……but still)…..

we are going to pull up the things that kept us in the ground and go over to where that beautiful blinding light is, and not be afraid.

So just stay with me for a minute and close your eyes if it hurts some because it is very bright, but let’s go. Let’s go make another page, Let’s go make another day happen, and Let’s go find out what is in there and when and if we can, maybe we can tell other people about it, so that they can see the choice.

and we must always honor that promise to be good and to be true.

That is how we can help.

So here is to Never Giving Up, and Never Giving Up On Others When They Do Not Give Up On You.

Rest up Foggy, much is about to change and we will need our energy and our strength because letting go for real is about changing that too.

So rest up, and I will wake you when it’s time to go. It is going to bring the best things we have to the people we love and even some people we don’t even know yet.

Thank You Foggy, you are a good listener and a good spirit. I love you very much.

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artists music videos rock gods

Ryan Adams says goodbye to Foggy…

… and although we’ve heard this before, I think it’s for real this time.

Ryan Adams says goodbye to Foggy…
Ryan Adams says goodbye to Foggy in his latest post…

This follows an earlier post today where Ryan wrote:

“The Sad Truth Is This Blog, It’s What Happens When One Day You Don’t Have That Person You Talk To Everyday Anymore. They Leave. Any You Get Desperate. And Pathetic. And You Don’t Know Who To Talk To. Life Goes On Without You. That Is What This Is. This Is A Horrible Loneliness. I Hate It. I Hate It So Much I Do It Every Fucking Day.”

Ryan’s blog was one of the most creative things to hit the music blogosphere in years. So… again: We’ll miss you Foggy.

(side note: I know it’s been quiet and this is an unacceptable first post after a week away, but things were/are ridiculously busy after my week in Sydney. Regular posting will resume soon… I promise.)

****

Edit: Well, that didn’t take long. There’s yet another post up, where Ryan posted this 20 minute video. Something tell me this is going to be a lingering goodbye…

Edit #2: Again… that didn’t take long. Ryan’s since deleted the video. Sorry folks.

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artists guitar live songs music music videos

Ryan Adams has left us a parting gift…

Ryan Adams has left us a parting gift. Unfortunately, I think this signals the end of his blog.
But he’s left us a parting gift.

And it’s a beautiful thing.

The guy makes me ache.

Goodbye Ryan.
Goodbye Wilson.
Goodbye Barnabus, and Foggy. (if you’ve been reading his blog, you’ll know what that’s about).

It was great meeting you all.